うばたまの夜の衣をたちながら
帰るものとは今ぞ知りぬる
帰るものとは今ぞ知りぬる
- Roma-ji
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Ubatama no yoru no koromo o tachinagara kaeru mono to wa ima zo shirinuru
- English Translation
-
In the jet-black night
wearing my robe for the night
still standing, I go—
that one could turn home like this
only now have I come to know
- Meaning
- Wearing the robe meant for the night, I turn home still standing, without lying down beside you—only now have I learned that such a thing could be.
- Commentary
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Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1175
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the ninth poem of the sequence on parting at dawn. Only now has he learned that one may go home still standing, wearing the robe of the night, without lying down together. The headnote continues "Topic unknown" from the preceding poem, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Seishin-kō," is Fujiwara no Saneyori. The eldest son of the Regent Fujiwara no Tadahira, he rose to Regent and Chancellor. Seishin-kō is the posthumous name given to him.
The first line, "ubatama no," is a pillow word for night, blackness, and the like; here it modifies "night" in the second line.
The second line, "yoru no koromo o," means "the robe worn for the night," the robe for lying together.
In the third line, "tachinagara," "tachi" is a pivot word meaning both "cutting cloth" and "standing." Over the associated word of cutting a robe lies the sense of "still standing, without lying down together."
The fourth line, "kaeru mono to wa," means "that one goes home." Following poems 1169 and 1170 of this book, it sings of the lament of one who goes home without meeting.
The last line, "ima zo shirinuru," means "only now have I learned it." The emphatic "zo" forms a kakari-musubi with the attributive "nuru." It sings with surprise of the unexpected experience of going home standing while wearing the robe meant for lying together.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Saneyori
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Omoiidete ima wa kenubeshi yomosugara okiukaritsuru kiku no ue no tsuyu
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Mijikayo no nokori sukunaku fukeyukeba kanete monouki akatsuki no sora